510: Chapter 510 The esteemed Mr. Bai, I have long admired your name.

Chapter 510: Esteemed Mr. Bai, I've Long Heard of Your Esteemed Name

Night City, Naihe Bridge agency.

Inside the spacious and bright service hall, it was bustling and crowded.

The huge crystal chandelier cast a soft glow, illuminating those anxious, indifferent, or greedy faces.

The numbers on the electronic ticketing screen kept jumping, accompanied by mechanical broadcast sounds, maintaining the order here.

Fang Cheng stood in the queueing area in front of Window No. 2, his body still radiating that faint golden light used to conceal his appearance.

He did not cut in line just because he was a big shot who had just completed an A-rank difficulty task.

Instead, he honestly held a crumpled number tag and waited among the crowd.

Inside the number tag were the electronic credentials for initially accepting the 'Chen Family Curse Case' mission.

When Fang Cheng just logged online in Night City, it automatically appeared before his eyes as temporary identification to enter Naihe Bridge for business.

About half an hour passed.

"Ding——"

"Please customer number 1098 proceed to Window No. 2 for service."

Fang Cheng glanced at the number in his hand and stepped forward.

Sitting behind the glass window was still that female clerk wearing glasses with a capable expression.

Without raising her head, she habitually tapped on the keyboard and asked in a formulaic tone:

"Hello, what business would you like to handle?"

"Submit the mission receipt and collect the reward."

Fang Cheng's voice was calm as he handed in the number tag containing the electronic credentials.

"Alright, please wait a moment, verifying the mission number..."

The female clerk took the credentials, glanced at them perfunctorily, and then entered a string of codes into the System.

However, the next second.

The originally calm screen suddenly popped up an eye-catching red pop-up window, followed by a string of golden text prompts representing extremely high authority.

The female clerk's hand tapping the keyboard suddenly stiffened.

She pushed her glasses and checked the number again in disbelief.

Then she abruptly raised her head, her originally indifferent eyes instantly filled with shock and panic.

Through the golden halo, although she couldn't see Fang Cheng's face, the ID codenamed "Xiaobai" seemed to emit boundless light in her eyes at this moment.

"You... You are Mr. Xiaobai?!"

Her voice was slightly out of tune due to excitement, and she even subconsciously stood up, her movement so large that it knocked over the water cup by the desk.

"It's me."

Fang Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling a bit baffled by this sudden enthusiasm.

"I am truly sorry! Kept you waiting!"

The female clerk hurried out of the counter, her original business-like attitude instantly making a 180-degree turn.

Her expression and behavior became respectful, even carrying a hint of flattery:

"Your business level belongs to S-rank VIP, you don't need to queue in the hall. Please come with me, our business manager has been waiting for you in the VIP room for a long time."

As soon as these words were spoken, the onlookers queuing around immediately cast envious, jealous, and hateful gazes.

"S-rank VIP? How big of an order must this have taken to complete?"

"Look at that build, look at that glittering appearance, either he's a big spender or a ruthless person..."

Amidst the whispering discussions of the crowd, Fang Cheng's expression was calm as he nodded.

Afterwards, he followed the female clerk towards the side of the hall, toward the exclusive elevator that could only be opened with specific authority.

...

Ninth floor, Supreme VIP reception room.

The decoration style here was extremely luxurious, complete with Persian carpets, mahogany furniture, and antique calligraphy and paintings, and the air was permeated with top-grade ambergris.

As soon as Fang Cheng entered the door, a middle-aged fat man dressed in an exquisite suit with a smiling face hurriedly greeted him.

"Mr. Xiaobai, long admired your great name! My humble surname is Wang, I am the business manager of the customer service department."

Manager Wang enthusiastically extended both hands, tightly gripping Fang Cheng's hand and shaking it.

That affectionate vigor made it seem as if the two were long-lost brothers.

"You have done a heaven-shaking and earth-shattering big thing this time! Not only did you perfectly solve the Chen family's commission, but also..."

Manager Wang stopped halfway through his words and hurriedly gave a few dry coughs:

"Ahem ahem, anyway, the higher-ups specifically instructed that you must be received with the highest specifications."

Fang Cheng withdrew his hand calmly and sat down on the leather sofa.

Although his heart was full of doubts, he still maintained a calm tone and asked:

"Manager Wang is too polite. I just heard that Young Miss say I am an S-rank VIP? I wonder what is so special about this identity?"

"Oh my, that is extremely special!"

Hearing this, Manager Wang instantly became energetic.

Like performing a magic trick, he presented a beautifully crafted bronzing manual with both hands, opening it while introducing with dancing eyebrows:

"This S-rank membership is the highest standard of courtesy of our Naihe Bridge, and the people in the entire Night City who possess this qualification can be counted on a few hands!"

"As long as you hold this card, you can enjoy a series of top-tier privileges."

"First is intelligence priority. All top-secret archives marked as S-rank in our Naihe Bridge intelligence database are open for you to review, and the fee is directly discounted by 50%."

"If you want to buy any news, even exclusive insider information that has not yet been listed, we must deliver it to your hands at the first moment."

"Secondly, the black market green channel. Whether it is contraband drugs, cursed props, or rare Materials, as long as you speak up, we are responsible for global cargo deployment, and we exempt all middlemen price differences, only charging cost prices."

"There are also private butler services, voice and video transmission services, cross-regional business agents, and even our global safe house network scattered across the real world..."

Manager Wang talked fluently and endlessly listed one tempting benefit after another.

Listening to this, Fang Cheng couldn't help but feel a bit moved in his heart.

This Naihe Bridge really went all out to win over S-rank clients.

Just the 50% off intelligence and black market cost prices alone could save clients in need a lot of expenses.

For himself and the Illuminati, which was in its Early Stage of development, that was an invaluable hidden channel.

"Indeed not bad."

Fang Cheng nodded, a satisfied expression on his face.

Seeing that the big shot was satisfied, Manager Wang's smile became even broader, and he struck while the iron was hot:

"For a master like Mr. Bai, the most valuable thing among these is the safe house."

"Not only is it equipped with top-tier security Systems, but it also stores emergency medical kits and combat supplies. Whether you want to take refuge or temporarily rest, you can move in with just your bags in any major city or even desert area around the world, guaranteed to make you feel at home."

"If Mr. Bai has needs, you can first handle a one-year package service and experience it first..."

"Let's talk about it next time."

Fang Cheng listened for a few sentences, waved his hand, and interrupted his endless words:

"Manager Wang, I came this time to get the reward I deserve, let's settle the mission reward first."

"Of course, of course!"

Hearing this, Manager Wang readily agreed and diligently poured Fang Cheng a cup of hot tea first.

Then he took out a prepared document from the safe and respectfully handed it over with both hands:

"This is the mission settlement statement, please review the specific details."

Fang Cheng took the statement, his originally relaxed eyebrows twitching slightly.

He saw two rows of numbers clearly listed on it:

Mission bounty: Basic reward 18 million yuan, performance rebate 8 million yuan, totaling 26 million yuan.

Actual amount issued: 20.02 million yuan.

And in that shocking deduction detail row, it was impressively written:

Platform basic service fee 5%, high-risk mission risk fund 5%, channel maintenance fee 3%, and an inexplicable 'emergency PR fee' 10%.

To think he had listened to VIP privileges for half a day, yet when it came to paying money, he still had to be slaughtered?

"Manager Wang."

Fang Cheng pointed at the settlement figure and looked at the other party with a half-smile:

"Since I am an S-rank VIP, shouldn't this handling fee... also be discounted?"

"Oh my, Mr. Xiaobai, you are making things difficult for me."

Manager Wang's smile instantly turned into a bitter face, rubbing his hands as he explained:

"This S-rank privilege is targeted at your future consumption and missions, but this order was accepted before you became a member. According to the rules... it has to remain as usual."

"After all, every trade has its rules. If this precedent is broken and everyone follows suit in the future, our business won't be able to run."

Manager Wang sighed, his tone full of helplessness:

"And you also know that this mission commotion was too big, Naihe Bridge still had to clean up the aftermath and block disasters for you behind the scenes, which cost quite a bit of real gold and silver to grease various relations."

"This 20.02 million is truly a conscientious price!"

Looking at Manager Wang's expression of 'we are already selling at a huge loss', Fang Cheng's mouth twitched slightly.

What a conscientious price.

This Naihe Bridge was indeed an iron rooster that wanted money to death, not parting with a single penny.

However, he also understood that if the other party could truly withstand the pressure of Utopia and ensure that his client data would not leak out.

Then they would indeed have to bear a considerable risk, and charging a bit of protection fee was excusable.

"Alright then."

Fang Cheng no longer tangled over it and nodded indifferently:

"How to collect this money?"

"That depends on your own needs."

Seeing that Fang Cheng stopped bargaining, Manager Wang immediately resumed his professional smile and introduced in detail:

"Considering fund security and your privacy, our Naihe Bridge thoughtfully provides three confidential collection methods."

"First, real currency offshore account transfer. We will launder it through dozens of overseas shell companies, and finally remit it to any account you designate, absolutely untraceable to the source, but the arrival time takes 24 hours."

"Second, physical delivery. We can pay in cash, or convert it into equivalent gold, jewelry, or rare Materials, and place it in a designated safe house in the real world for you to pick up yourself, instant arrival, but with a certain transportation risk."

"Third, exchange it for the 'credit coins' of our Night City. This is hard currency in the underground world, which can not only be used to purchase any black market goods here, but also circulate in the secret strongholds of major organizations without any handling fees."

Fang Cheng tapped his fingers lightly on the sofa armrest, falling into deep thought.

Take all real currency?

Although safe, he wasn't that tight on money right now, and the huge sum given by Second Young Master Chen Xuan hasn't been spent yet.

Furthermore, real currency was not very useful in Night City; buying some intelligence would incur a high handling fee, which was too much of a loss.

If he exchanged everything into cash now and had to convert it back when needed in the future, that would be a foolish act.

Take all credit coins?

Also not working.

The Illuminati had just started; base construction, personnel recruitment, equipment procurement—which one didn't require real gold and silver?

Besides, he previously planned to buy a building for his mother.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Cheng made a decision.

"Half transferred into this account."

He reported an anonymous account that he had previously asked Lin Chuqiao to register overseas, and then said:

"The other half, completely converted into credit coins."

"No problem, you are truly so wise!"

Manager Wang was full of smiles and immediately operated.

In less than two minutes, accompanied by a crisp prompt tone, a pitch-black magnetic card with dark golden patterns flowing on the surface was handed into Fang Cheng's hands.

"This is your S-rank membership card, inside of which has been deposited credit coins equivalent to 10.01 million."

"Holding this card, you can enjoy a 20% discount on all consumption in Naihe Bridge and its subordinate black markets in the future, plus..."

Manager Wang lowered his voice and said mysteriously:

"If you need to reside long-term in Night City and keep the funds and items on hand, we can also provide you with luxury single apartment rental services in the core area, which is also an internal discounted price oh."

Fang Cheng toyed with the black card in his hand, feeling the special energy fluctuation contained within it.

This thing was indeed much more Advanced than the previous temporary number tag.

"Let's talk about the apartment matter later."

Fang Cheng put away the card and stood up:

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first."

"Alright, alright, take care Mr. Bai!"

"In the future, whenever you have any needs, just come directly to me, guaranteed to handle it properly for you without the slightest mishap..."

Manager Wang nodded and bowed all the way, sending Fang Cheng out of the main gate.

Until his figure disappeared into the elevator, did he straighten his waist and wipe the sweat that had unconsciously oozed from his forehead.

He muttered inwardly to himself.

This man radiating golden light all over had quite a strong Aura.

Meanwhile, in a monitoring room on the top floor.

Shen Shuhuan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze closely staring at the gradually receding figure on the screen.

"This is that 'Xiaobai'?"

He muttered to himself, a flash of sharp light passing through his eyes.

"Can't see through... Completely can't see through."

"This man's Mental Energy fluctuations are extremely stable, just like a bottomless ocean. Even when collecting huge rewards, his heartbeat and micro-expressions had no fluctuations at all."

Shen Shuhuan turned around and instructed the assistant behind him who was as non-existent as a shadow:

"Lock his membership file, encrypt all transaction records related to him, and only I can view them by mobilizing authority."

"In addition, send a few smart experts to keep an eye on him, but don't get too close; experts of this level have very keen intuitions."

"I want to know his foothold in Night City and who he is in contact with, but he must never perceive that we are monitoring him."

"Yes, Young Master."

The assistant immediately accepted the order, bowed slightly, and quickly withdrew from the monitoring room to arrange manpower.

Looking at the closed door, the corner of Shen Shuhuan's mouth hooked into an arc:

"Since Utopia wants his life, then we will insist on protecting him. An enemy's enemy is a friend; this business is a sure win without loss..."